Wednesday night, the Patriots looked unbeatable at times, and not so good, at other points in the game.

Despite the inconsistency, USA was able to grind out a 45-35 victory over Bad Axe, in the Division 3 district semifinals.

The Patriots were without starting point guard Maci Montgomery, who missed the game due to illness.

"When you have a team of nine, everyone has a big part," said Frahm. "You take a piece of that out, that's a significant loss.

"The girls tonight, found a way to step up and get it done."

USA owned the first five plus minutes of the game, racing out to a 9-2 lead, as Rylee Zimmer scored seven of those points.

The scrappy Hatchets showed plenty of fight, as they cut the deficit to 11-8 by the end of the quarter.

The Patriots seemed to recapture their momentum at the start of the second quarter, as they scored the first five points, to lead 16-8.

Bad Axe ended the half on a 7-2 run, to once again get within three points, at 18-15.

"Give them credit, they played tough and tenacious defense, they got after it," Frahm said of the Hatchets. "In the postseason, it's win or go home and they played like that."

The third quarter started just like the first two, with USA coming out hot, scoring the first 10 points, to build a 28-15 edge.

The lead would balloon to 32-17 at one point in the third, on the way to a 36-24 edge by the end of the period.

"I told them 'for as sloppy as the first half was, it was behind us, and move on'", Frahm said about his message at halftime. "It was ugly, but for as bad as we played, we were still up three."The fourth quarter was plagued with fouls. Bad Axe did outscore USA 11-9 in the frame.

THE STARS: Rylee Zimmer pumped in a game-high 24 points for USA, including 13 of the team's 18 points in the third quarter.

Grace Williamson added 10 for the Patriots, many off of steals, which led to easy buckets.

The scoring was more spread out for the Hatchets, who saw Kate Clancy, Nicole Yageman, Laken Chapin and Alexis Booms all with six points.

STRUGGLE FROM THE LINE: USA had plenty of opportunities from the free throw line, as it attempted 27.

But only 10 of those were makes.

In two district games, the team is 34-of-61 from the line.

"I like the 27, that's a lot of attempt — the 10, that's concerning," Frahm said. "Tonight was one of those nights from the free throw line."

BUILDING BLOCKS: Bad Axe finishes the season at 4-16, which is a three-game improvement from last season for first-year coach Padge VanHoutteghem.

Wednesday, the Hatchets had an extremely young starting lineup, which featured a freshman, two sophomores, a junior and senior.

The lone senior on the roster is Abby Newland.

UP NEXT: USA (12-8) will play for its second straight district championship, when it takes on Greater Thumb East co-champion Harbor Beach (17-4) at 7 p.m., Friday night, in Cass City.

The teams met in the second game of the season, with the Pirates earning a 37-22 victory.

For the Patriots, they had just five practices under their belt, coming off a state runner-up in volleyball.

"We were nowhere near being able to play basketball when we played Harbor Beach the first time," Frahm said. "We're hoping to get healthy in the next 48 hours and have a very competitive game Friday night."